Buyers Of Underage Sex Get Little Jail Time, New Study Shows

Men who are convicted of paying for sex with minors are unlikely to serve much time behind bars, says the finding of new research conducted by Arizona State University and released by Shared Hope International, an organization trying to stop sex trafficking.

Washington was actually the first state in the nation to pass a specific law against the trafficking of children under the age of 18 for sex.

And the findings show that the Seattle metro area has the highest felony conviction rate in the country for buyers who purchased sex acts with children.

And yet, even in Seattle, the median time served by men convicted was less than three months.

“Now, that’s pretty low. You can have shoplifting crimes and other crimes that are not crimes against vulnerable children and serve not much more time than that.” said Linda Smith, a former Washington state congresswoman who founded Shared Hope International.

Smith doesn’t blame prosecutors who plead charges down or judges who give light sentences as much as the culture, which she says accepts things like hiring a prostitute for a bachelor party or celebrating a guy’s 21st birthday with a visit to a strip club.

“Men can try to think in their head that some woman would really like to be victimized by them, but it is victimization," Smith said.

The report on the conviction rate for buyers of sex with minors included an interesting graph showing a change in King County, seen above.

Back in 2009, it was the minors selling sex who were being prosecuted. Now, with very few exceptions, it’s the men soliciting sex from teens who are being targeted.

Billboards depicting the outline of a young girl and a short story about abuse have sprung up across western Washington. Seattle Police Captain Dave Emerick is in charge of the high risk victims unit. He says at any given time, between 300 and 500 young people are being sexually exploited in King County alone. He says the police want to hear from anyone who sees suspicious behavior.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington lawmakers are considering a pair of bills that target Johns who solicit prostitutes. Proposals to increase state fines for prostitution and human trafficking had a hearing Tuesday in Olympia.

Supporters say some Washington speeding tickets cost more than the current fine for buying sex.